thru-hiking – Page 27 – Twig Adventures

PNT Day 3: The Pacific Northwet

July 6, 2022 kaulua26 Pacific Northwest Trail

Sunday July 3rd, 2022, 0600-1800Toroda Creek Rd to West side of Swan Lake bushwack, WEBO mm 512.3 Segment 5 Okanogan Highlands30.3 miles, Gain 5090′, Loss 4530′, elevation 3800 It was a good day, just a little wet. It started with light sprinkles overnight, which woke me up, having to deploy my my rain flaps. My stealth spot proved to be perfect otherwise. It was quiet (only a few cars passed all night) and you couldn’t even tell I’d been there once I packed in the morning. I wanted to sleep in a little but I knew it wasn’t good to linger on private property. I hit the road and had it all to myself for a few miles. Then I turned[…]

PNT Day 2: Havillah & Bonaparte

July 5, 2022 kaulua26 Pacific Northwest Trail

Saturday July 2nd, 2022, 0615-2000Hilltop to Toroda Creek Rd WEBO mm 542.6 Segment 5 Okanogan Highlands32 miles, Gain 2900′, Loss 3400′, elevation 3255 What a great second day on the trail! Or should I say road? For starters, I got a brilliant night’s sleep, without one disturbance. Ok, maybe one or two since I heard birds calling all night. A chorus was going by 4 am and the morning light was already starting to peak through. I’ll never begrudge birdsong though, no matter how early. I pulled my buff over my eyes to block out the light…both to go to sleep and before waking. I allowed myself to sleep in until 5 am since I needed to catch up. This felt[…]

PNT Day 1: Oroville…what the flip?

July 4, 2022 kaulua26 Pacific Northwest Trail

Friday July 1st, 2022, 1530-1920Whistler Canyon Trailhead @ HWY 97 to top of hill, WEBO mm 578.8, Segment 5 Okanogan Highlands10.8 miles, Gain 3300′ , Loss 500′, elevation 3750 I’m glad I downloaded the section overview maps from the PNTA website beforehand, because this should help followers understand ‘what the flip’ I’m doing for this hike. See the highlighted section of the Okanogen Highlands above? After a whole lot of back and forth on what to do about record levels of residual snow in the Cascades and Rockies, this was where my PNT thru-hike began: in the middle, working my way east. Once I made it back to Glacier National Park, I’d repeat my train\bus\ride travels to pick up the trail[…]

PNT Pre & The Big Split

July 1, 2022 kaulua26 Pacific Northwest Trail

June 21st- 30th, 2022 This is a long-winded explanation about why and how I changed my plans to start the PNT at the mid-way point near Oroville WA. It explains some of the in’s and out’s of flip-flopping. I’ve never had a hike begin with so much uncertainty and last minute decisions! Previous experiences prepared me well for being flexible and resilient, but this adventure really put this to the test. It didn’t help that I set myself up with some pretty complicated logistics beforehand, beginning with a flight segment to Denver almost 2 weeks before I was set to start the hike. Buying 2 separate one-way tickets (Miami – Denver & Denver – Kalispell) turned out to be a[…]

Pacific Northwest Trail 2022

June 10, 2022 kaulua26 Pacific Northwest Trail

For my 10th long-distance thru-hike, I’m attempting the 1,200 mile PNT, which traverses along the Canadian border from Glacier National Park in Montana to Cape Alava/Pacific Ocean on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington. This route serves as a northern connector of the PCT and CDT, as it shares a brief part of each trail. The majority of the PNT is through Washington…a section I really loved on the PCT, so I’m looking forward to seeing more of this beautiful state. The conditions will be a huge change from my recent time spent in the desert SW and along the east coast on the AT. Water will be plentiful (snowpack is still way above average), bushwhacking will be the REAL DEAL,[…]

MRT Summary & Stats

June 7, 2022 kaulua26 Mogollon Rim Trail

I thought this would be quick and easy, given how short this hike was. But actually, there was quite a bit to it. I’ll let my daily blogs do most of the talking, as I was pretty detailed in capturing the spirit of each moment. My main takeaways from this route were greater confidence in my abilities and appreciation for remote and ‘difficult’ hiking. Going for days or even weeks without seeing other hikers, let alone other people, really appealed to me. I felt like I saw a lot more wildlife and was more in the zone of just being in nature. Without an audience, I find a stoicism in my responses to the conditions and hardships of the trail.[…]

MRT (Bonus) Days 28 & 29: Silver City Fin

May 30, 2022 kaulua26 Continental Divide Trail, Mogollon Rim Trail

Friday May 6th, 2022, 0630-1800Sapillo Creek to Little Walnut Picnic Grounds outside Silver City24 miles. I heard some strange noises coming from the nearby cave dwellings in the morning. I wondered if it was from animals or ghosts? Perhaps some early-riser CDT hikers had discovered the caves? This area was also where I first heard a Mexican whippoorwill and again, one first thing this morning. They appear to have a very limited range in the SW of the US, but I’d heard them quite a few times on this hike. I always love the sound they make. I also forgot to mention that we saw a lone javalina by the river 2 days prior…first and only of this hike. The[…]

MRT (Bonus) Day 27: Rollin Down the River

May 14, 2022 kaulua26 Continental Divide Trail, Mogollon Rim Trail

Thursday May 5th, 2022, 1000-1800Gila Hot Springs to Sapillo Creek17.5 miles. I woke and packed early, but not so I could hike. My only priority was getting another soak in the springs. I felt pretty warm in my tent, but found my dress frozen stiff outside…it was only 30 degrees. I had to dunk it in the hot water just to be able to change into it. I decided that I needed to invent a hiking robe for such circumstances. None of the CDT hikers opted for a morning soak… probably because of the cold and also because they had thousands of miles left to hike. I had less than 50 miles and 4 days to get it done. It[…]

MRT (Bonus) Day 26: Gila Hot Springs

May 14, 2022 kaulua26 Continental Divide Trail, Grand Enchantment Trail, Mogollon Rim Trail, Pacific Crest Trail

Wednesday May 4th, 2022, 0640-1000West Fork Gila to Gila Hot springs.11 miles. We had about 6 miles to go until the cliff dwellings, then another 5 miles of road walking to Doc Campbells and the hot springs in the morning. The trail went by fast, especially since I was running to keep warm. The relentless river crossings turned my feet into blocks of ice, so I had to do something to generate heat. We passed a camp where the occupants were dry, sitting in chairs, and sipping coffee. Ahhh, the regular backpacking life. We also passed our camp from the year before, where I spied toilet paper right where I’d cowboy camped…good thing I hadn’t counted on a repeat of[…]

MRT (Bonus) Day 25: Gila River

May 12, 2022 kaulua26 Grand Enchantment Trail, Mogollon Rim Trail

Tuesday May 3rd, 2022, 0640-1920Iron Creek to West Fork Gila, GET Seg 21 mm 11.527.5 miles. I wasn’t looking forward to the challenge of the first half of the day. We were walking unfamiliar territory for about 14 miles, a lot of which was in burn areas. This alternate now had its own alternates to avoid miles of washed out creek travel. The first few miles were fine, on maintained trail. Then we turned up a drainage towards Turkeyfeather Pass, which was chaos from the get-go. I thought there might be some remnant parts of the trail left to follow but I was wrong. Massive erosion and flooding from the surrounding burned areas had turned the drainage into a jumble[…]

Tag: thru-hiking